ZooMontana

About ZooMontana

ZooMontana sits on 70 acres on the west side of Billings, just off Interstate 90 at 2100 S Shiloh Rd. It is Montana's only zoo and botanical park, run as a nonprofit organization, and it is also an accredited arboretum. The Zoo does not receive public tax support; it raises its operating funds through admissions, memberships, events, and private contributions.

The Zoo cares for close to 100 animals, and different pages from the Zoo put the species count at 56 or 58. ZooMontana is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a distinction the Zoo notes is held by fewer than 10 percent of the roughly 3,000 USDA-licensed wildlife exhibitors in the country. Annual attendance runs over 150,000 visitors, and the Zoo's community and education programs serve more than 18,000 students a year, drawing most of its guests from the northern Rockies.

The collection is organized around a clear idea: wildlife native to Montana, the Rocky Mountains, and other cold-temperature regions at or above the 45th parallel, with a smaller set of indoor habitats devoted to animals from elsewhere in the world. Canyon Creek runs through the middle of the grounds, giving the property a park-like setting, and the Zoo describes its animals, most of which are rescues, as living in habitats designed to imitate their natural environments. ZooMontana sums up its approach as focusing not on how many animals it holds, but on how well the animals it does have are cared for.

History

Accounts of ZooMontana's founding differ slightly depending on which of the Zoo's own pages you read. One source describes the Zoo as incorporated and established as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in 1992; another, on the Zoo's about page, gives 1984 as the incorporation date and says ZooMontana opened its doors at its current 70-acre site, off Interstate 90 on Zoo Drive, in 1995. Both agree that it is the only true zoological and botanical park within roughly 500 miles of Billings.

A major milestone came in September 2019, when ZooMontana earned accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In March 2014, the Zoo experienced flooding that put more than three feet of water over some of its paths.

The Zoo has continued adding capital projects in recent years. Beginning in 2016, it opened new exhibits for takin, wolverines, American bison, and raptors. In 2018, ZooMontana established the Yellowstone Arboretum on its grounds, bringing together a large selection of native and non-native trees. In 2023, the Zoo donated over $35,000 back to the Billings community through free passes, memberships, and rental space.

Exhibits and habitats

ZooMontana is organized into two main regions along with several standalone areas. The Asia Region begins near the wolves and follows a paved path through a cottonwood forest; the path splits, with one branch becoming a nature trail and the other leading toward the Siberian tiger on one side and the red panda on the other. The North America Region holds habitats for wolf, grizzly bear, river otter, beaver, bald eagle, and bighorn sheep.

Indoors, the Discovery Center houses a set of Living Wall habitats featuring animals from South America, Africa, and other parts of the world, including iguana, mink, chinchilla, western screech-owl, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, tiger salamander, ball python, box turtle, rubber boa, aracari, common degus, Colombian red-tailed boa constrictor, savannah monitor, and a number of other snakes, lizards, turtles, amphibians, and arthropods.

The Barn is home mostly to domesticated animals, including Belgian draft horses, pygmy goats, peafowl, rabbits, and goats, with the turkey vulture also housed there during warmer months. Guests can visit the ponds and feed the koi for a small fee. Outside, the grounds include the one-acre Sensory Garden, planted with native and exotic plants meant to stimulate the senses and used as a site for weddings, along with a Montana garden of native plants and Dottie's Garden, planted with species that need very little water.

Animal highlights

ZooMontana lists at least 32 species on its website, spanning mammals, birds, and reptiles alongside a few invertebrates. Larger mammals include the Amur tiger, grizzly bear, wolverine, Canada lynx, grey wolf, bison, red panda, and Sichuan takin, several of which arrived at the Zoo through rescue or Species Survival Plan placements rather than being born there. Smaller residents include the North American porcupine, three-banded armadillo, alpaca, Boer goat, miniature donkey, and Flemish Giant rabbit.

Birds on site include the bald eagle, golden eagle, eastern screech-owl, laughing kookaburra, and turkey vulture, several of which came to the Zoo as educational ambassadors after injury or rehabilitation. The reptile, amphibian, and invertebrate collection includes ball python, red-tailed boa, three-toed box turtle, North American racer, Madagascar day gecko, cane toad, Madagascar hissing cockroach, and two tarantula species, the Chilean rose hair and the green bottle blue. The koi pond alone holds around 70 individual fish.

Conservation and programs

ZooMontana's red pandas and wolverines are both part of Species Survival Plans, the coordinated breeding programs run across accredited zoos for species of concern. The Zoo is also home to the Science and Conservation Center, an independent nonprofit headquartered on the grounds that produces and distributes a wildlife contraceptive vaccine, maintaining the records required by the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency. The Center works with the Contraception Advisory Group of the AZA, based at the Saint Louis Zoo, to coordinate and in some cases carry out application of the vaccine to wildlife.

Education runs through ZooSchool Preschool, an independent preschool that holds its classes on the zoo grounds, and through the Zoo's broader community and education programming, which reaches more than 18,000 students annually. Many of the Zoo's animals also serve as educational ambassadors used directly in these programs.

Planning your visit

As listed on the Zoo's website, ZooMontana is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with extended summer hours from May through September and members admitted starting at 9:30 a.m. during that stretch. Guests are permitted to stay on the grounds for one hour after closing. The Zoo is open every day of the year except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day, though one Zoo page also lists Easter as a closure day; inclement weather and special events can also change the posted hours, so calling ahead (406-652-8100) or checking the website before a visit is worthwhile.

Admission discounts include $2.00 off adult or senior admission for guests age 55 and over, and a group rate for school and nonprofit groups, which must call ahead and pay in a single transaction. Children 15 and under must be accompanied by an adult. Pets and emotional or therapy animals are not permitted on the grounds, though service animals are. Rental items are available at the front gate and gift shop on a first-come, first-served basis. The gift shop offers plush animals, magnets, key chains, postcards, and other Montana souvenirs, with all profits supporting Zoo operations.

Because hours, admission prices, and closure dates can change, confirm the current details on ZooMontana's official website before you go.